Sandinistas Rally to Mark 11th Anniversary of Somoza’s Ouster : Nicaragua: Chamorro government programs special shows on television in a bid to keep the crowds down.

The war is over, but the battles go on.

The Sandinistas, celebrating the 11th anniversary of the triumph of the revolution they led, mounted a boisterous, song-filled rally Thursday with firebrand former President Daniel Ortega.

“Not one step back,” they cried.

To discourage the masses from attending, the government bought out its big guns: special July 19 programming on state television, including “Batman,” “Crocodile Dundee” and “Three Men and a Baby.”

This is not a new tactic. Earlier in the year, to counter a campaign rally for the National Opposition Union, the Sandinistas had aired “Rain Man.” They lost the election anyway.

Now the Sandinistas are the opposition, searching for a new identity and a political battle plan to use against the conservative government.

“The Revolution Continues. . . . Not One Step Back,” a headline announced in the anniversary issue of Barricada, the Sandinista newspaper.

A headline in President Violeta Barrios de Chamorro’s La Prensa responded, “July 19, the Sandinistas’ First Expropriation.”

For a decade under Sandinista rule, the opposition had to fight to get on television--and it usually lost. Today it is the Sandinistas who are not seen on television. They say the government refuses to sell them air time.

Chamorro addressed the nation on the eve of the anniversary. It was the 1978 assassination of her husband, Pedro Joaquin Chamorro, that sparked a popular uprising that, with the Sandinistas in the vanguard, ousted dictator Anastasio Somoza on July 19, 1979, ending 43 years of rule by the Somoza family. The Sandinista guerrillas, organized in 1961 to oppose the Somoza dynasty, did not figure in Chamorro’s address.

Chamorro, who sat with Ortega and others on the first post-Somoza junta, said: “Unfortunately, the revolution was confiscated by an exclusive party with a totalitarian ideology that they had kept hidden. In place of democracy, a dictatorship rose up like a cadaver on its feet.”

She said this at a time when members of her coalition are accusing her of being a closet Sandinista. The charge refers to the negotiated settlement of last week’s violent nationwide strike. In effect, the settlement, among other things, puts on hold her government’s plans to sell off state lands and industries.

While some government officials quietly prayed for a tropical rainstorm, the Sandinistas invited all Nicaraguans, regardless of party affiliation, to their rally. They even invited Chamorro, they said.

“It is important that the government and the president recognize this date,” Sandinista Comandante Jaime Wheelock said. “The Sandinistas led the people in a struggle by all Nicaraguans.”

No one from Chamorro’s government showed up, and it poured rain, but the Sandinistas turned out 50,000 supporters. The crowd sang Sandinista songs, clearly energized by the results of their strike.

“Down with decrees that confiscat from the people,” their banners read.

The government had been uncertain how to deal with July 19: Some officials did not want to concede the day to the Sandinistas, and others wanted to ignore it. They feared a clash between Sandinistas and government supporters, as in last week’s strike, which left four dead and dozens wounded.

Finally, officials realized they could not avoid a national holiday; after all, it is spelled out in the constitution and the labor code. So they gave public employees the day off but planned no festivities.

“We didn’t want to compete or to appear as if we were trying to steal their show,” said Antonio Ibarra, vice minister of the presidency.

Police said there were no reports of violence.

In past years, July 19 has served as a platform for the Sandinistas to flex their muscles at the United States and the U.S.-backed Contra war. Cuban President Fidel Castro spoke at the first anniversary celebration, and the U.S. delegation walked out as the crowd sang the Sandinista anthem, which contains a line condemning American “enemies of humanity.”

At several July 19 celebrations, the Sandinistas put on a display of military might, with marching soldiers and militia, tanks, helicopters and aircraft. Now they do not officially command the military, although Chamorro left Ortega’s brother, Gen. Humberto Ortega, in place as chief of the armed forces.

The themes of past celebrations were national sovereignty, nonintervention and victory over the Contras. With the war behind them and a stunning electoral defeat, the themes of this rally were democracy and defending the gains of the revolution against Chamorro’s program of free enterprise.

“If barricades were raised, it was to defend the rights of workers to work, or farmers to farm the land,” Ortega said. “That is why there was a national strike.”

Added Wheelock in an interview: “We have simply lost an election here, but the revolution is a general fact. Thanks to the revolution, Violeta Chamorro is president.”

Chamorro does not see it quite that way.

“I come from the vote that elected me president,” Chamorro said.

The rally highlighted the dilemma the Sandinistas face. They began as a guerrilla army fighting a dictator and, once in power, formed a party to support their government. Now they must convert that political-military organization into a party with mass appeal.

Last week’s strike, while successful in its political goals, frightened many people with its guerrilla-like tactics.